Residents Vote Today Group Favoring Incorporation Expects Contest To Be Close

September 8, 1987|By Lorena Oropeza of The Sentinel Staff

DELTONA — As voters go to the polls today, the anti-incorporation group is certain they will emerge victorious while the group in favor of becoming a city expects a closer contest.

Karl Kalsow, chairman of Deltonans Against Incorporation, is confident his group's message will prevail at the ballot box. ''People just don't want to become incorporated,'' he said. ''They moved here to live in a beautiful, quiet community with low taxes.''

Wayne Gardner, chairman of the Committee to Incorporate, is more cautious in his prediction. ''I think the vote is going to be terribly close and it will be decided when the absentee ballots are counted,'' he said.

Gardner's estimates the referendum has a 50-50 chance of passing. He bases his opinion on a number of phone calls the pro-incorporation group has made to newcomers to the community and others.

More than 700 people have returned absentee ballots to the county Office of Elections, said Katherine Odham, supervisor of elections. The number -- almost 5 percent of all the registered voters in Deltona -- indicates a great deal of interest in this referendum.

Residents who requested these ballots and have not returned them -- almost 200 voters -- have until 7 p.m. today to return their ballots to the elections office in the county courthouse, she said.

''I expect there will be a good turnout,'' Odham said. ''A lot of people have registered, a lot of people have returned absentee ballots, and the issue has been in the newspapers.''

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., although those residents who are standing in line to vote at 7 p.m. will not be turned away, Odham said.

The office of elections will tabulate an unoffical count several hours after the polls close based on the precinct's results, she said.

In case of a close vote, the outcome may be determined by the absentee ballots. The official outcome will be determined Wednesday morning after a canvassing board counts the absentee ballots.